BURNABY – Simon Fraser blasted three homeruns but that wasn't enough as they fell to to the Western Washington Viking 3-1 and 5-2 Saturday in Great Northwest Athletic Conference softball doubleheader at Beedie Field.
Megan Duclos,
Rebecca Kirkpatrick, and
Hannah Boulanger all hit homeruns for SFU Saturday afternoon.
The losses dropped SFU (14-16 overall) to 5-9 in the GNAC and fifth place while Western Washington (22-15) improved to 8-2 and is in the top spot in the standings. The Vikings have won 17 of their last 21 games.
SFU leads the all-time series 62-41-1, but WWU has a 27-20 advantage in the 47 games since SFU joined NCAA Division II in 2011.
GAME 1 | SFU 1 WWU 3
Western Washington scored three runs in the first two innings and then relied on pitcher Kira Doan to manage the rest of the game. She held SFU to six hits and improved her record to 8-5. SFU centre fielder
Megan Duclos sent an 0-1 pitcher over the left field wall for her first homerun of the season for SFU's lone run, That narrowed the score to 3-1 in the third inning.
SFU left two runners on base in the fourth and had the tying run at the plate with a runner on in the seventh but couldn't generate the runs.
SFU starting pitcher
Anissa Zacharczuk left the game after two innings, giving up two hits and walking three runners. She was tagged with the loss. Western had the bases loaded in the second but Zacharczuk got the final two batters to ground out to hold the Vikings to two runs in the inning.
Shaneika Hollingworth pitched the final five inning, giving up eight hits while striking out two.
GAME 2 | SFU 2 WWU 5
Game two was a pitcher's dual between SFU's
Julia Hansen and Western's Joie Baker through three innings as both pitchers gave up just one hit.
SFU led briefly. Second base
Rebecca Kirkpatrick hit her first homer of the season to score SFU's first run in the second inning when she sent a 3-2 pitcher over the left field wall.
Western tied the game two innings later.
Western loaded the bases with none out in the top of the fourth. Hanson got Macy Tarbox to line out to third, but Rylie Wales followed with a single up the middle to tie the game. Hanson got Brooke Fesenbek to hit into a 5-3 double play to escape the inning, giving up one run on four hits.
Hannah Boulanger re-established SFU's lead, 2-1, in the bottom of the fourth with a swing of the bat, sending a 1-2 pitch over the left field fence for her second home run of the season.
Western responded with two runs on three hits in the fifth for a 3-2 lead. Fesenbek hit a two-run homerun in the sixth to secure the win.
Hanson (3-4) ended up giving up 10 hits before leaving the game in the sixth.
Anissa Zacharczuk finished the game.
Baker went the distance for the Vikings tossing a four-hitter.
SFU will play Western in a double header at Beedie Field on Sunday, beginning at noon. The four-game series concludes a string of 15 consecutive road games for the Vikings.
Simon Fraser has three home doubleheaders remaining, Sunday vs WWU and April 23 and 24 against Montana State Billings.
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